The invention relates generally to telecommunication networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for internet accessible, on-line monitoring of a telecommunication network on a network or switch basis.
A telecommunication network, for example, the public switched telephone network (or xe2x80x9cPSTNxe2x80x9d) is comprised of a variety of components. These include voice and/or data terminals used by individuals to access the telecommunication network, local exchange carriers (or xe2x80x9cLECsxe2x80x9d) which couple the terminals to the telecommunications network and switches which route telephone calls and other exchanges between the LECs. Some of the switches commercially available include the DMS-100, DMS-200, DMS-250, DMS-300, DMS-500, DMS-STP, DMS-CDMA and DMS-MTX, all of which are manufactured by Northern Telecom Ltd. of Montreal, Canada. Once purchased from a manufacturer and installed as part of a telecommunication network, a switch is typically operated by an interexchange carrier (or xe2x80x9cIXCxe2x80x9d) service provider such as Sprint or MCI.
As is well appreciated in the art, switches are extremely complex devices which incorporate therein a multitude of hardware components and software modules. To enable either the manufacturer or the IXC service provider to monitor their operation, switches are typically provided with the ability to internally collect various types of information, commonly referred to as xe2x80x9clogsxe2x80x9d, regarding its operation. The information collected by the switch could then be analyzed, for example, by a field technician, to identify problems occurring during operation of tube switch. For a variety of reasons, however, the information collected by the switch has been infrequently used by IXC service providers. One reason is that, oftentimes, the information collected at the switch was only locally available. Thus, in order to examine the collected information, the IXC service provider would have to physically travel to the switch. This has been seen as a great inconvenience, particularly to IXC service providers who operate switches at a number of widely separated geographical locations. Furthermore, as purchasers of switches manufactured by others, some IXC service providers fail to develop a full understanding of the operation of the switch. As a result, therefore, some IXC service providers lacked a full understand of how to best exploit the information collected by the switch. Finally, detailed knowledge regarding certain aspects of switches is sometimes deemed to be proprietary information of the manufacturer thereof. Generally, information deemed by the manufacturer to be proprietary was rarely shared with the IXC service provider purchasing the switch. Again, the result was that some IXC service providers lacked sufficient familiarity with the operation of the switch to fully exploit the information collected thereby.
In one embodiment, the present invention is of a method for monitoring operation of a telecommunications network which includes a first switch. In this embodiment, data is collected at the switch and transferred to a central data processing unit. The collected data may then be reviewed from a remote location. In one aspect thereof, the central unit generates, from the collected data, an evaluation of operating conditions at the switch. Like the collected data, the evaluation of operating conditions may be evaluated from the remote location. In another aspect thereof; the telecommunications network includes at least two switches. In this aspect, data is collected at each of the switches and transferred to the central data processing unit. A switch of the telecommunications network is selected for reviewed and the collected data for the selected switch is reviewed. In another aspect thereof, an evaluation of each switch is generated and reviewed from the remote location.
In another embodiment, the present invention is of a method for on-line monitoring of a telecommunications network comprised of a first switch and a second switch by collecting data at each one of the first and second switches and transferring the collected data to a central data processing unit. At the central processing unit, the collected data for each one of the first and second switches is arranged into a first data subset containing log information for each one of the first and second switches, a second data subset containing configuration data for each one of the first and second switches and a third data subset containing operational management information for each one of the first and second switches. The arranged data for the first and second switches is then reviewed from a remote location over the internet.
In further aspects thereof, first and/or second evaluation of the telecommunications network is generated from the collected data for the first and second switches. The first and/or the second evaluation of the telecommunications network can also be reviewed from a remote location over the internet. Preferably, the first evaluation is a network log count produced from the first data subset for the first and second switches while the second evaluation is a call processing-based evaluation produced from the second and third data subsets for the first and second switches.
In still another embodiment, the present invention is of a telecommunications network comprised of a first switch, a second switch coupled to said first switch and a central data processing unit coupled to the first and second switches. The central data processing unit includes a first software module for capturing data from each of said first and second switches and a second software module for generating first and second evaluations of said network. Each of the first and second evaluations of the network are accessible for review by an accessing processor positioned at a remote location relative to the central data processing unit and coupled thereto by an Internet connection. In a further aspect thereof, the central data processing unit further includes a third software module for issuing notifications related to said first and second evaluations of said network to designated recipients.
In further aspects thereof, each of the first and second switches include a first software module for collecting log data, a second software module for collecting call processing data and a memory subsystem coupled to the first and second software modules. Preferably, the memory subsystem is arranged to include a first memory area for maintaining log information for the switch, a second memory area for maintaining configuration data for the switch and a third memory area for maintaining operational management information for the switch. In still other aspects thereof, the central data processing unit includes a memory subsystem coupled to the first and second software modules. Preferably, the memory subsystem is arranged to include a first memory area for maintaining raw data for each one of the first and second switches, a second memory area for maintaining processed data for each one of the first and second switches and a third memory area for maintaining processed data for the telecommunications network.